


Promise

by twisting_vine_x



Series: Scratching Out A Life [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Last Night on Earth, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 15:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7393096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twisting_vine_x/pseuds/twisting_vine_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Canon-verse, set about two years after the anime. Basically, an end-of-the-world zombie AU, with all our crows and a bunch of our other darlings scratching out a life in an underground base together. This series will mostly focus on UkaTake, IwaOi, BokuAka, and KuroKen, but the whole Karasuno crew is also here.)</p><p>Summary: The one in which Ukai's going out on the mission tomorrow, and Takeda's not. </p><p>- - -</p><p>
  <i>He looks worlds away from the well-put-together teacher that Keishin had first met, but Ittetsu's kindness – and his stubbornness – haven't changed. If anything, the end of the world's just made him kinder, and Keishin's hand isn't steady as he raises it to Ittetsu's hair. There's a small streak of grey, too, just barely starting to appear, and he drags his fingers along it. Thirty-one years old and already going grey. Ittetsu hates it, Keishin knows, which is why Keishin takes every chance to remind him that he's perfect just the way he is. Sometimes with words, and sometimes like this, with the message clearly received as Ittetsu swallows and stares down at the floor, like he can't quite deal with Keishin looking at him like that.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

> (There's gonna be a lot of hurt before there's comfort [like, uh, six chapters of hurt], but, if it's any consolation, I hate writing sad endings.)
> 
> Also vague background plot ummm: okay so they were all at a training camp in the country when the epidemic hit, and by the time they'd tried to make it back to their towns and cities, all the roads had been barred and fences were being put up so they all just ended up going back into the countryside together, and happened to find an underground base (because that's what happens in apocalpyse AUs). I dunno, I just really wanted to write this story. :P
> 
> Chapter one: angst, tears, hurt with minimal comfort.

"The movies always make the end of the world look so glamorous."

Ittetsu's voice is very soft, where he's slumped over the table, his chin on his arms as he rests his elbows on their mission plans. His glasses aren't quite on straight, off-kilter on his face in fitting counterpart to his dazed expression, and Keishin swallows as he turns back to the monitors.

Not far from the main entrance, Tooru and Hajime seem to have dissolved into outright yelling at each other, though it looks like Tooru's close to tears. In the basement, Koutarou's slamming a volleyball against the wall over and over and over again, with Keiji sitting close and keeping watch over him, not saying a word, and Kuroo and Kenma curled up in the corner of the room, with Kenma resting against Kuroo's chest. Over in one of the training areas, Kiyoko's wrapped around Hitoka and carefully running a brush through her hair, both of them still in the outfits they'd been sparring in. There's no sign of anyone else - they must all be in their own sleeping areas - and Keishin turns back to Ittetsu, wanting nothing more than to curl up around him and pretend that the world doesn't exist.

He'd never known it was possible to be this tired. He'd thought he'd known exhaustion, once. He'd worked two – sometimes three – jobs for years, with barely enough time to stumble home and sleep. He'd gotten trapped in that future, had grown to expect it, until a bright-eyed teacher had showed up at his shop and sparked some life back into him again. The exhaustion had mellowed into a tiredness that he could easily deal with, as long as he could come home to Ittetsu's smiling face at the end of the day.

He'd never thought they could end up here. Stranded in some forest for well over a year, the honorary adoptive dads to a whole bunch of teenagers who never even got to finish high school.

He tries to not think about it too much, because he can't do a good job of keeping all those kids safe if he's too busy crying. At this point, he's sat up all night with Tooru while Tooru had sobbed, he's been there to support Daichi when even their captain couldn't pretend to hold it together any more, and he'd sat beside Keiji in the middle of the night while Keiji had told him about how terrified he was for Koutarou, his voice clipped and his face almost disconcertingly blank – like he was trying very hard _not_ to feel – as he’d talked about watching Koutarou’s spark slowly fade away.

And he knows that Ittetsu's done the same. Been there time and time again for these kids, in whatever ways he could help, as the world had just spiralled further and further out of control. Whatever professionalism had once existed between all of them – teacher and coach, a group of Karasuno teenagers, and some students from rival schools – it's long since crumbled to nothing. And Keishin wants to hide everyone away from this nightmare.

"I mean, there's always, like – the last-minute miracle escapes, or... or the downpour right in the middle of a drought that finally saves the day, or whatever.” Ittetsu's face is still mushed into his arms, his shoulders hunched over the table, and Keishin tries to brush his thoughts away as he breathes through the pang in his gut and steps closer, until he can carefully brush a hand over Ittetsu's hair. It's more than a little greasy – they've been on careful water rations, what with the recent damage to one of their waterlines – but Keishin couldn't care. Not with Ittetsu sighing and pushing into it, like it's the only thing in the world that matters. Keishin would still wrap himself up around this man if they were both covered head to toe in blood. “I just... I'm so tired of all of this, you know? And I hate that I can't protect you from all of it.”

His voice dips down low at the end, and Keishin swallows as he grabs a chair and sits down, staring at Ittetsu and not saying a word until Ittetsu finally lifts his head out of his arms and looks sideways at him. For a moment, they just stare at each other, until Ittetsu turns in his chair, too, their knees brushing together as they end up facing each other. There are so many holes in Ittetsu's jeans it's a wonder they're holding together at all, and the smudges under his eyes are becoming downright scary.

He looks worlds away from the well-put-together teacher that Keishin had first met, but Ittetsu's kindness – and his stubbornness – haven't changed. If anything, the end of the world's just made him kinder, and Keishin's hand isn't steady as he raises it to Ittetsu's hair. There's a small streak of grey, too, just barely starting to appear, and he drags his fingers along it. Thirty-one years old and already going grey. Ittetsu hates it, Keishin knows, which is why Keishin takes every chance to remind him that he's perfect just the way he is. Sometimes with words, and sometimes like this, with the message clearly received as Ittetsu swallows and stares down at the floor, like he can't quite deal with Keishin looking at him like that.

That's not what Keishin most needs to address here, though. Because the base is falling silent save for the generators, and he desperately needs to sleep soon, if he wants to have any hope of making it tomorrow. But he's not going to sleep until he's driven this into Ittetsu's head. Ittetsu needs to hear it. Because tomorrow is dangerous - really, truly dangerous, more so than their standard supply runs or scouting missions - and he knows exactly why Ittetsu's going to pieces right now. They've gone on separate missions before, but never quite like this. Keishin can barely breathe at the thought.

He needs to come home tomorrow. There's no other option.

“Keishin...”

“I'm coming back.” There's a rasp to his voice that he doesn't like, and he clears his throat and tries again, his heart hammering _horribly_ at the wide-eyed look on Ittetsu's face. “Tomorrow, I swear to you –”

“I should be going with you.” There are tears in Ittetsu's eyes, now. Spilling down his cheeks as his lips press tightly together, like he's doing everything he can to hold it together. They've been dancing around this all night. Not talking about it, while they'd worked on finalizing plans. Keishin feels a bit like he's going to be sick. “I should be – I'm no _use_ to you here, I'm no good to _anyone_ –”

“We can't leave the kids alone.” They've been over it, already. Discussed it inside and out, but Ittetsu obviously still hates it. Keishin's gut is swimming with guilt as he takes Ittetsu's hands in his, squeezing gently, trying to not think about how terribly cold his skin is. “We can't both go –”

“Then let _me_ go, instead, and you –”

“We _can't,_ okay, we – you're the smart one, not me, the kids are going to need you if –”

He just about bites off his own tongue, but it's already too late.

_If I don't make it._

Why did he say that? He needed to – it's what he's been thinking, all night, but he needs to _not_ think like that – he _can't_ think like that, because he can't abandon this man, and he can't abandon the kids, which means that he needs to _come back_.

“You're coming back.” Ittetsu's eyes are very wide, and he's gone so pale it's almost frightening, his lips the only spot of colour on his entire face. “You just said t-that you're – _promise_ me, Keishin, promise me that you'll –”

“I promise.” He sounds like he's about to cry. He can hear it in his voice. “I _promise,_ okay, I promise I'm –”

Ittetsu's lips cut him off. It's a wreck of a kiss, shaky and uneven, like neither of them can coordinate enough to figure out what they're doing, and their mingled breath is horrible – they'd given Shouyou their last tube of toothpaste, a couple of days back – but Keishin doesn't care. He'd stay right like this forever, if he could.

And he barely swallows through the desperate surge of want - he _wants_ to stay, he doesn't _want_ to leave tomorrow - before Ittetsu's making a little hurt noise like he's reading his mind, and pulling back just long enough to crawl into his lap, his legs on either side of him as he tucks himself against his shoulder, face pressed into the side of his neck as he sits there and shakes in Keishin's arms. The nausea in Keishin's stomach is roiling worse than ever, and he tightens his grip as much as he can, as though he can mould them together and keep them from ever being parted again.

“I'm coming home. I promise.”

It's not a promise that he can make, really, and they both know it – but with Ittetsu trembling in his arms and Keishin's face streaked with his own tears, maybe they both really need to hear it.


End file.
